Soil pulverizee



T 0 all whom it may concern.-

NITED STATES PATENT rrrcn.

JOSEPH B. OKEY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

SOiL-PULVERIZER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,318, dated December 1,1885.

Application filed August 7. 1885. Serial No. 173,878.

Be it known that l, J osErH BERTON OKEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cultivators for Harrowing and Pulverizing the Ground, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for pulverizing soil, and has for its object an improved construction of such machine, whereby the pulverizing or working of soil is accomplished in a more nearly perfect and expeditious manner.

The invention is embodied, essentially, in a machine containing a front row of long knives or cutters pivoted at their tops to a frame which is hinged or pivoted in the carriage and adapted to be raised and lowered, a guide-frame which holds these knives at the proper angle and serves also as a cleaner for the knives when they are drawn up through the slots therein, and a rear following frame hinged in the carriage provided with knives, as will be hereinafter explained.

The invention also consists in certain other details of construction and combinations claimed at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of my machine through the line 00 y,- Fig. 2, a top View or plan of same with the tongue, seat, and levers removed; Fig. 3, a vertical section through the line on n,- Fig. 4., a top view of the frame of my machine with all the other parts removed, and showing the manner of fixing slats across the top of the frame to form a floor for the driver; Figs. 5 and 6, perspective views of parts of the framework of the machine.

Similar letters refer to similar parts through out the several views.

A are the wheels; B, the frame-work to which the other parts are attached; 0, the front row of knives or cutters pivoted by the pin 0 to the crossbars d of the inside movable frame, D. This movable frame D is fixed to the outside frame by the pins E. These pins (No model.)

means of a suitable lever, F. The front row of knives or cutters, 0, are fastened to this frame D, and the object in raising andlowering the frame is to raise and lower theknives and regulate their depth according to the character and condition of the ground.

The main work of the machine is done by the knives or cutters O, and in order to take the strain off the pins E and place it directly on the axle of the wheels, which is a very great advantage in the draft of the machine, I extend the end pieces of the frame D upward the required distance, and make the vertical slots (1 in these extensions. Theaxles c of the wheels A pass through these slots (1 and bear against the sides of the slots, so that all of the draft of the front knives comes directly on the axles.

The object in making a vertical slot in the extended sides is to allow the frame and its attached knives to be raised and lowered, which could not otherwise be done. The sides of these slots may be curved with the pins E as the center of curvature, in which case the recess 6 in the section b may be a round hole instead of a slot; but if the sides of the slots at are straight, as shown in the drawings, the recess 6 in the sect-ion b must be a slot instead of a hole, just as is shown in the drawings.

The adjustable sections b of the outside frame, 13, are fastened in front to the frame B by hinges b of common form, and at the opposite ends by the screws b*. The screws 1) enable the back ends of the sections to be raised and lowered, which raises and lowers the cleaner or guide frame G, for cleaning the front row of knives. The cleaner or guide-frame G is placed immediately under the front row of knives, O, and is fastened to and connects both of the sections b. It is provided with suitable slots or openings to allow the knives G to pass through in reaching the soil tobe pulverized. In traveling from field to field the knives are drawn up by means of the lever even with the under face of the cleaner or guide-frame G. When atwork in the field, the knives are low ered into the soil through the slots in the cleaner or guide-frame G. If the ground is wet and sticky, or if the knives become covered with dirt or clogged up in any way, they are readily and thoroughly cleaned by drawing them up through the slots in the cleaner or guideframe G, which at once scrapes off all foreign matter.

In stumpy or stony ground it may benecessary to raise the cleaner orguide-frame G. This is done by means of the screws b as above described.

H is a follower placed behind the front cutters. It is armed with downwardly-projecting blades h, similar to those shown in the drawings, or it may be provided with common harrow teeth. These blades or teeth are placed so as to alternate with the front cutters and stir the soil between them. The follower H is hinged on its front edge, h, to the sections 1). and is raised and lowered by the lever F. The levers Fand F are both fixed to the tongue I of the machine and extend up within easy reach of the driver. They are provided with looking devicesff, to lock the levers and hold them and their attached knives rigidly in position. The tongue I is raised to the height of the Wheels and secured to the frame by means of an upward extension of the front and back sections of the frame. The seat for the driver is fixed to the tongue or the machine in any convenient way. The top of the frame is slatted over to make a platform for the driver, as shown in Fig. 3.

I am aware that devices have been employed to clean the the dirt and foreign matter from the teeth of harrows and cultivators.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a soil-pulverizer, a front row of long knives or cutters, C, pivoted at their tops to an inside frame, D, which is adapted to be 40 raised and lowered at will, combined with a guide-frame, G, which holds the knives at the proper angle and serves as a cleaner when the knives are drawn up through the slots therein, substantially as described.

2. In a soil-pulverizer, the knives O, the cleaner or guide-frame G, adapted to clean dirt and foreign matter from said knives, in combination with adjusting-screws If, for said guide-frame or cleaner, substantially as de scribed.

3. In a soil-pulverizer, the combination of the frame carrying the pivoted teeth 0, the guide-frame and cleaner G, and the hinged follower H, provided with teeth or cutters following behind the front row of knives, O, the said teeth or cutters alternating with the knives O, and means whereby the said follower can be raised or lowered, substantially as described.

4. In a soil-pulverizer, the extended ends of the movable frame D, having suitable slots, d, to receive the axles a of the wheels A, thereby placing the draft of the front knives or cutters directly on the axles a, substantially as described.

5. In a soil-pulverizer, the'combination of the front row of cutters, O, pivoted to the frame D, the lever F, for raising and lowering the cutters, the cleaner G, adapted to hold the knives C at the proper angle and clean them, and the follower H, to follow after the front row of cutters, O, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

his JOSEPH B. X OKEY.

mark.

Witnesses;

SAML. A. MINTURN, TIMOTHY F. MEANY. 

